-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- A journalist who was interviewing a key political protest leader in Bangkok said the sniper bullet that struck the man came so close that it `` felt like it grazed my head . ''

Describing a chaotic scene on the streets of the Thai capital Thursday night , Thomas Fuller of the International Herald Tribune described to CNN how Maj. Gen. Khattiya Sawasdipol was shot in the head as he was interviewing the opposition figure .

`` I was facing him , he was answering my questions , looking at me and the bullet hit him in the forehead , from what I could tell , '' Fuller told CNN 's Michael Holmes . `` It looks like the bullet came over my head and struck him . I do n't have any way of confirming this beyond what I remember from the scene , but it felt like it grazed my head . ''

Thomas Fuller describes scene in Bangkok

Fuller and other journalists were interviewing the general -- better known as Seh Daeng -- in makeshift barricades that protesters have set up in downtown Bangkok .

The United Front for Democracy -LRB- UDD -RRB- has turned the posh commercial center of Bangkok into a makeshift fortress , as they continue to demand that Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva dissolve the lower house of Parliament and call new elections .

The protesters ' barricades appear as a combination `` of ` Mad Max ' and some medieval scene , '' Fuller said . Bamboo pikes and rubber tire barricades have been formed as a makeshift camp by the protesters , Fuller said .

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Fuller said he was just inside the barricades when he was interviewing Seh Daeng . The opposition figure was facing out of the barricades and into Bangkok 's business district of tall office buildings .

`` He was standing in the same location for a while when I was talking to him but he was moving around , he was gesticulating , '' Fuller said . `` He was n't standing still , he was bobbing his head . ''

Seh Daeng did not appear to be armed or have bodyguards but was dressed in camouflage jacket and a floppy hat , Fuller said . The opposition leader was listed in critical condition from the shooting , his guards said .

Violence erupted after Thai authorities set a new deadline to seal off the Bangkok intersection where protesters have gathered by the thousands for the past month .

Escalating violence in Bangkok

The government said it has been forced to take action after demonstrators disregarded an ultimatum by Abhisit to vacate the intersection by Wednesday . The Red Shirts support former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra , who was ousted in a bloodless military coup in 2006 .

What are the protests about ?

Seh Daeng -- or Red Commander -- is a controversial public figure , even within the protest movement , Fuller said . Some Thai opposition leaders see him as an impediment to a peaceful resolution to the political stalemate that has gripped Thai politics , Fuller said .

`` He 's a renegade in all sense , '' Fuller said . `` He 's a renegade from the army , a hardliner within the protest movement . He told me today he thought they -LRB- other opposition leaders -RRB- were being cowardly , and he wanted to carry on . ''

More than two dozen civilians and military personnel have died in police-protester clashes in the ongoing unrest .

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Reporter was interviewing Thai opposition figure when man was shot in head

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Many Thai protesters has set up a makeshift barricade , reporter says

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More than two dozen civilians , military personnel have died from police-protester clashes